WPP: Part A - Description of Need or Opportunity

The basic process of Photosynthesis is a tough subject to learn and teach. Unfortunately, students come into the classroom with misconceptions about how plants work. It is hard for them to believe that plants have to make their own food internally using carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. Most believe that plants take in their food from sources such as water and soil. In my opinion, we add to a student’s misunderstanding about Photosynthesis at an early age. For example, we can all remember hearing from our parents and teachers that soil and water is all a plant needs for growth. Another misconception, is that some students do not see the importance of plants; but we know that nearly all living things depends on them as a food and oxygen source. The educational need is to clear these misconceptions and provide students with a deep understanding of how carbon, dioxide, water, and sunlight will produce sugar and oxygen, which helps the plant grow and develop.

To try to help students clear these misconceptions, they will be creating an individual presentation using Prezi, a web-based presentation application and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional slides. Although Prezi will be the preferred technology, students are welcomed to use Google Docs or Zoho. The focus of the assignment will be to create something that could possibly be used to teach younger students about Photosynthesis.

Students will have to be creative but most importantly have to completely demonstrate a deep understanding of the basic process of Photosynthesis and its formula (Carbon Dioxide + Water + Sunlight Energy --> Sugar (Glucose) + Oxygen). There will be three slides describing how plant obtains the reactants and what happens to them during photosynthesis. Two more slides will used to describe the products. They will have to explain the benefits of oxygen and why does a plant need to make glucose. Project must also be colorful and include relevant pictures or videos. An instructions sheet/rubric (RubiStar) will be developed to guide students while making their presentations.

Presentations will be done in a Biology class made up of 9-12 grade students. Production will occur in the classroom and at home. If needed students may work in pairs to include collaboration to the process and improve social skills. Before starting the presentation a storyline, brainstorming sheet, and sources must be submitted for approval. This assignment will be implemented at the beginning of the unit, which starts on October 11th and ends October 18th. We will spend a couple of days in the computer lab to work on the project and one of those days will be fully devoted to teaching them the basics about Prezi. 


Measuring Success

As mentioned earlier, there will be time spent in the computer lab. Before beginning their Prezi projects students will take a survey that will measure basic prior knowledge about plants and Photosynthesis. On the same day the Prezi is due, students will be asked to write a short summary about questions dealing with the process of Photosynthesis. I decided to stay away from a mutiple choice quiz because of possible guessing. The summaries will be compared to the results from the survey; if the project was successful, understanding of the subject should be clear in their summaries, primarily clearing up misconceptions. The survey and short summary will be used as formative assessments. There will also be a unit exam given at the end which should provide further proof of the project's success.


Resources

Photosynthesis - A Survival Guide for Teachers: A collection of resources for teachers to use in their classroom when teaching about Photosynthesis. There are worksheet, PowerPoints, technical guides etc. This website helps with a variety of ideas on how to make such complex subject and make it easy to comprehend by students.

Using technology to teach content: This article gives you information on pros and cons using technology to teach subjects such as Photosynthesis.

Usinf technology to promote inquiry in Science: This short paper outlines the importance of using technology in teaching.

Prezi Tutorials: Step-by-steps instructions/tutorials on how to use Prezi to create presentations.

YouTube video about making presentations with Prezi

Faculty Focus: Short article which supports the idea of using Prezi rather than PowerPoint. 

Example Prezi: This is an example of a presentation using Prezi and the the subject of Photosynthesis

Misconceptions of Photosynthesis: A paper which includes a variety of misconceptions which students have about Photosynthesis.

But what is Photosynthesis?: A research paper about teaching photosynthesis and clearing some of its misconceptions.